# McLaren MP4-17

The McLaren MP4-17 was the car with which the McLaren team competed in the 2002 and 2003 Formula One World Championships. The chassis was designed by Adrian Newey, Mike Coughlan, Neil Oatley and Peter Prodromou with Mario Illien designing the bespoke Ilmor engine. The car was driven by Briton David Coulthard and Finn Kimi Räikkönen in both seasons.
This was the first McLaren Formula One car supplied with Michelin tyres since the MP4/2 in 1984.

## 2002

The team did not perform as well as expected in 2002, in a season dominated by Ferrari, and due to the unreliability of the car; they eventually finished third in the Constructors' Championship with 65 points and one victory (in Monaco).

## 2003

Using a development version of the car, the MP4-17D, the 2003 season started very promisingly with wins at the first two grands prix of the year, one each for Coulthard and Räikkönen. However, rival teams soon caught up as McLaren was sidetracked by the development of the McLaren MP4-18, a radical new design, which due to reliability problems, never raced in anger. As a result, the team gradually fell slightly further back as the season progressed, allowing rivals, developing their cars more efficiently, to catch up. However, despite this setback, Räikkönen consistently finished in the points and challenged Michael Schumacher for the championship to the last race, eventually losing the title by only 2 points. The team again finished third in the Constructors' Championship, having 142 points, just two points behind Williams F1.

## Livery

Despite the livery design being similar, there were notable sponsorship differences, such as Computer Associates (2002) and Siemens Mobile (2003) branding on the bargeboards. 2003 was the final year for Loctite, as the brand itself was owned by Henkel and it would be switched for 2004.
McLaren used the 'West' logos in both seasons except at the French and British Grands Prix.

## Complete Formula One results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position, results in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Chassis | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Points | WCC |
| 2002 | MP4-17 | Mercedes-Benz FO110M 3.0 V10 | M | | AUS | MAL | BRA | SMR | ESP | AUT | MON | CAN | EUR | GBR | FRA | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | USA | JPN | 65 | 3rd |
| 2002 | MP4-17 | Mercedes-Benz FO110M 3.0 V10 | M | David Coulthard | Ret | Ret | 3 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 2 | Ret | 10 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 3 | Ret | 65 | 3rd |
| 2002 | MP4-17 | Mercedes-Benz FO110M 3.0 V10 | M | Kimi Räikkönen | 3 | Ret | 12$^†$ | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 4 | 3 | Ret | 2 | Ret | 4 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 3 | 65 | 3rd |
| 2003 | MP4-17D | Mercedes-Benz FO110M 3.0 V10 Mercedes-Benz FO110P 3.0 V10 | M | | AUS | MAL | BRA | SMR | ESP | AUT | MON | CAN | EUR | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | ITA | USA | JPN | | 142 | 3rd |
| 2003 | MP4-17D | Mercedes-Benz FO110M 3.0 V10 Mercedes-Benz FO110P 3.0 V10 | M | David Coulthard | 1 | Ret | 4 | 5 | Ret | 5 | 7 | Ret | 15$^†$ | 5 | 5 | 2 | 5 | Ret | Ret | 3 | | 142 | 3rd |
| 2003 | MP4-17D | Mercedes-Benz FO110M 3.0 V10 Mercedes-Benz FO110P 3.0 V10 | M | Kimi Räikkönen | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | Ret | 2 | 2 | 6 | Ret | 4 | 3 | Ret | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | | 142 | 3rd |